Harley Quinn Beats Superman in June's Comic Book Sales

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Batman doesn't stay down for long.

By Jesse Schedeen

Diamond Comics has released their sales figures for June 2014. The healthy competition between Marvel and DC continued from last month, with DC remaining within a few percentage points of Marvel and Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman returning to the top of the sales charts after being knocked down by Amazing Spider-Man in April and Original Sin in May.

As mentioned, Batman #32 was the best-selling single issue of June, as the "Zero Year" storyline reaches its climax. That issue was followed by Amazing Spider-Man #3 and Original Sin #3 in the second and third slots, respectively. Interestingly, Harley Quinn #7 was the fourth best-selling issue of the month, even beating out Geoff Johns and John Romita, Jr.'s debut on Superman. If anyone needed further proof of Harley's massive popularity these days, there you have it. Robert Kirkman also continued to be a big draw with readers. The Walking Dead #128 clocked in at #9, while Outcast #1 just missed placing in the top ten.

The ten best-selling comics of June 2014 were:

1. Batman #32 (DC)

2. Amazing Spider-Man #3 (Marvel)

3. Original Sin #3 (Marvel)

4. Harley Quinn #7 (DC)

5. Superman #32 (DC)

6. Original Sin #4 (Marvel)

7. Amazing Spider-Man #1.2 (Marvel)

8. Justice League #31 (DC)

9. The Walking Dead #128 (Image)

10. Detective Comics #32 (DC)

It wasn't Marvel, DC, or Image at the top of the charts when it came to graphic novels, however. Instead, it was the first volume of Archie Comics' mature readers horror series Afterlife With Archie. That was followed by another horror parody, Night of the Living Deadpool, and first volume of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Image series Velvet.

Unfortunately, this year's trend of declining overall numbers continued once more, as June 2014 sales were down compared to both May 2014 and June 2013. Year-to-date sales are also down compared to June 2013. We'll see if the trend changes next month. Rocket Raccoon #1 is almost guaranteed to be the best-selling comic of July, with orders estimated at around 300,000 copies. Even considering that a significant chunk of those orders are from the website Loot Crate, that's an impressive debut for the furry hero. Between that issue, the conclusion of Original Sin, and several high-profile debuts from DC (New Suicide Squad, New Teen Titans, Grayson), perhaps the industry will shake off its sluggish sales patterns.

As always, it's important to note that these figures only represent sales through Diamond and not retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble or digital comics providers like Comixology.